The Other Side
by ybbalentz
Summary: Dandy may have died in Houdini's escape tank, but who's to say a certain someone didn't stop by afterwards to claim his soul.
1. Poor Unfortunate Soul

_**This story will not follow the exact storyline of Freak Show but will have many references to different scenes. Hope you enjoy! Comments and thoughts are always welcome! **_

_**I've always loved the thought of Dandy, Edward and Twisty together, which led me to starting this story and developing an idea of how Dandy ended up in Edward Mordrake's dead freak posse. This, of course, will continue on after "Curtain Call". **_

**Ch. 1-** **Is This What Hell Looks Like? **

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He feels it filling up his lungs. His breath escapes him and his conscience goes black. No thoughts build up anymore in his mind. Quickly, the world around him starts to disappear and moments after he is finally at peace. His lifeless body floats, no more emotion to be shown. Hours pass, his body starts to bloat and his skin turns to grey. No pain to ever come his way again. Dandy Mott, the once lively, psychotic freak, now hovers dead in a hard, plastic case of old, cloudy water.

"Poor, unfortunate soul," the voice of none other than Edward Mordrake muttered, standing in front of the box that withholds the body of the motionless figure, with his dead freak followers standing behind. Twisty the clown at his side, looks over to the confined man that he once knew. He gives a concerned stare and glances at Edward.

"He belongs with us. Another damned soul…" Edward stated without even a side glance towards Twisty. He kept his deep blue eyes glued to Dandy. Slowly but surely the man with two faces walked even closer to the dead body in the tank, taking each step at a slow pace up to the stage and once at his destination he, with caution, touched the side of it. He circled the enclosed case steadily with his gloved hand drifting across the borders.

"How do you suppose we get him out of there? He's coming with us, right?" Twisty asked anxiously, still in the same spot, watching Mordrake circle death.

"There is where the problem lays. I did not kill him, so I must find a way to take his spirit back with us somehow."

A silence filled the tent in which the unholy spirits occupied. Being Halloween once again, Edward Mordrake was summoned back onto freak grounds after he found out about the "performance" Dandy gave, shooting up every one of Elsa's monsters around and then, in turn, the freaks' performance on Dandy himself as well, drowning him in Houdini's escape tank. Mordrake knew Dandy Mott was a dark soul. He was everything but normal and was destined to live his afterlife with others just like himself; deranged individuals who will never learn their lesson. The one's who have enough pain in their hearts to cause the demon to weep.

"Come," Edward began, turning his head toward his dead troop of freaks. "We must break this case," he finished with a wicked smirk.

The group of walking dead oddities searched around for blunt objects to crack open the container filled with grimy, aged water. Each one picked up different types of rocks and stones found in the dirt and trudged over to where Edward was standing.

"I want this man out of this contraption," Edward stated.

The clan of spirits, including Twisty, surrounded the tank and began banging on the sides as hard as their dead hands could let them with the instruments they picked up. All done without one word spoken. Soon enough cracking noises were heard and crevices were visible. It wasn't before long when the whole thing fell apart, dropping Dandy's pale body to the ground as water rushed out, flooding the dirt beneath them all. The group of living death immediately backed away and allowed space for the doing of Edward Mordrake. Twisty backed himself up next to Edward once more, but kept his eyes locked on the dead body lying in front of him the whole time. Edward's so called "evil twin", the one known as the demon face, began whispering words inaudible to everyone but Edward. The tall, dark dressed fellow listened and nodded. He pulled out his dagger and headed to the young man's stiff body. Once he arrived at Dandy's side, he kneeled down and put one leather hand on the boy's shiny, bare chest. The other hand was raised steadily in the air, holding the sharp weapon. With one quick, swift movement the pointed dagger was plunged into Dandy's non-beating heart. A loud gasp was let out as the rich kid's once still body rapidly sat up and began to cough. Edward silently stood up and put out his hand. Dandy, still in a coughing fit and now spitting up water, noticed the gesture and once he regained himself, looked up at Edward. He gave a face of absolute confusion.

"What is this? What's going on?" he asked, looking down at his bare body and then around at his surroundings.

"You're dead, my friend. You've passed on to the other side and now you must come with us. No need to tell me anything. I already know your story and your deepest pains. The clown here told me everything," Edward spoke softly, still extending his hand to the young man.

Dandy had only just noticed that Twisty was standing there as well just after Edward had pointed him out.

"…clown. I remember you," Dandy started, studying the familiar clown face of Twisty, who in turn did not say anything. All he did was smile and nod at the kid. "Your silence is still utterly provocative," Dandy added with a small smirk after realizing that Twisty was not going to say anything in response.

"Now, get up. Take my hand and come with us," Edward interfered, extending his hand further down, closer to Dandy.

Dandy did what he was told and grabbed the ghost's hand, but had one concern.

"How do you expect me to go anywhere without any clothing?"

"You are dead. It matters not what you are wearing, or in this case, not wearing. It only matters that you are hear with us now and that you will finally be free of all your deepest sorrows," Edward pointed out.

Dandy, being who he was, tried to put up an argument about the while situation, claiming that he couldn't die and that this was all some sort of Halloween trick to try and scare him. Edward easily ignored it though and proceeded to move forward, swiftly walking past the freakish group toward the tent's opening with his cane by his side and his cape flowing behind each stride. The others followed, still with no words to come out of their mouths, and Twisty was guiding Dandy along the way. Dandy still wasn't sure what was happening but he felt much different than he did before. He wasn't suffering, per se. If this was really an afterlife, he was shocked. Dandy never expected to actually cross over after death. Before leaving him to drown, Bette and Dot were standing right in front of him expressing their hate, telling him that he was going straight to Hell. Was this what Hell looked like?

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_**This chapter basically served as an opening to the whole story. I do plan on going into the character's personalities and developing them much more. I also hope to write longer chapters in the future to cover more grounds and really develop the plot. **_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own American Horror Story or any of the characters involved. **_


	2. The Abomination That is a Part of Me

**Ch. 2- What's your story?  
**

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"_Please!" Dandy screamed, begging the remaining members of Elsa's freak troupe to let him out of the tank. _

_They wouldn't give in. They, instead, backed down off of the stage and marched right into three old, metal, foldout chairs. They sat back and watched the rich kid struggle to survive. Desiree munched on popcorn, Jimmy exchanged a big smile with Dot and even Bette, once deeply in love with Dandy, observed as her face glowed with happiness._

"_I hate you! I hate you! I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!" Dandy's final words spilled out, quickly beginning to fade away from conciseness._

"Feeling troubled?" Edward Mordrake questioned, looking back at Dandy and noticing the gloom expression on his face.

Since the resurrection of Dandy Mott, Edward's group of walking spirits have been tromping through the dark lands of the dead, green fog surrounding them, as they make their way to their eternal resting place until next Halloween. Dandy, now a part of the group, followed slowly behind with his head hung low. They young man was still trying to get the fact that he was dead through his head. He didn't want to believe it. His destiny in life wasn't fulfilled yet, he still had so much work to do. Thanks to the freaks though, he was now stuck roaming in Hell, forever to be alone. He was right all along. He was never destined to feel love. Dandy should have never bought into Bette's cheap acting tricks. Maybe he could have still been alive.

Dandy, at first, didn't receive the message that Edward spoke. He was too caught up in his thoughts to hear if anyone were to say something. As to wiggle the newly deceased man out of his own mind, Twisty extended an arm over the boy's bare shoulders and gave him a few small shakes.

"Clown," Dandy said sternly, putting a hand up, back now in reality. "Not now."

Twisty removed his arm from around the man and sadly backed away. Edward, coming to the conclusion that he would not be getting a response from Dandy, turned around and continued down the path of darkness with his freaks by his side. He got his answer just by hearing the tone in the boy's voice while speaking to the clown.

"Are we almost there? I'm getting bored," Dandy spoke up after moments of silently walking.

"Oh no my child. We still have a ways to go until we reach our resting point," Edward said, looking over his shoulder back at Dandy as they all continuously kept moving. Once the two-faced man turned back around, Dandy brought his head up and looked in front of him taking notice of the face that occupied the back of Edward's head. How had he not seen it before? It was in plain sight, and so completely odd. Dandy's eyes opened wide and a toothy smile appeared on his own face. He picked up his pace and caught up with Edward to get a closer look at the mutant man.

"Fascinating," Dandy let out, barely above a whisper. His hand reached out to touch the disfigured face, but quickly retreated when it hissed and Edward stopped immediately, turning around once again to face Dandy.

"What do you think you are doing?" Edward bellowed, staring straight into the other man's eyes.

"You have a face on the back of your head. It's truly mesmerizing," Dandy replied casually with a tilt of his head after taking a few steps back from the enraged ghost.

"I'm well aware of the abomination that is a part of me," Edward began as the demon face started whispering nonsense only to trigger a bigger rise out of his other side. "Shut your mouth you foul creature! You are vile and a burden to everyone!" Edward yelled, turning his head slightly as if to glance behind himself.

Dandy stared back with a furrowed brow as the man clad in black raised his voice.

"My apologies. You will have to excuse me. I am never in favor of talking about the atrocity that is my other half." Edward said, lowering his voice and calming down.

Dandy said not a word in return, but instead sat down on a nearby tree stump, interlocking his hands on his lap and looking up at Edward with a hopeful gleam in his eyes with a closed-mouthed smile.

Edward gathered that the young man was in dire need to hear the story about his life, but the man with the double face was never fond of reliving his past.

"Alright, you listen here you freak. You came all the way from the deep depths of Hell to retrieve me so I could join your little cliché group of dead monsters. I demand to hear your story! You apparently know all about me, I think I deserve the same knowledge toward you, now that I am a part of this," Dandy shouted, getting up from his tree stump after Edward remained silent. The man came face to face with Edward and huffed and puffed, failing to get his way.

"God, why does no one in this world ever listen to me?" Dandy whined, stomping his foot on the ground.

Edward closed his eyes and breathes inwardly through his nose, exhaling long and hard out of his mouth. He then turn to his freakish companions and told them to continue on while he stayed to amuse this boy. They, including Twisty, did as they were commanded and left Edward alone with the desperate one.

The night became quiet and the tension between Edward and Dandy increased as they looked each other dead in the eye. Moments passed by and the two just stared at one another nonstop in an awkward silence. Dandy, waiting as patiently as he could to hear the story and Edward stalling because of his lack of interest to tell the tale. After what seemed like hours, Edward sighed and broke the silence.

"I will have you know, this will be the only time I recall my past for you, understand?"

"Yes," Dandy simply said with a big grin, knowing now that he had won the battle.

Edward closed his eyes again for a minute then began, opening them back up. "Ever since I was a child, back in the 19th century, I remember this evil creature being part of me, whispering hateful things inside of my head. As I grew older it only got worse."

Dandy leaned closer, his psychotic mind already intrigued with the back story.

"Nights were the hardest. That is when the evil fiend would talk horrid, hellish nonsense that I wouldn't dare care to share with you right now," the ghost went on, receiving a look of disappointment from Dandy after the last part. He, however, let Edward continue without an interruption.

"There was once a time where I considered surgery. The process may have been a time consuming struggle but I was willing to take that. Having this thing gone forever was all I wanted. Turned out the doctors would not have gone through with the surgery anyway because they believed it to be much too dangerous. They were not going to risk it…" Edward paused on a note of sorrow, thinking back. He soon got back into it. "Being heir to one of the noblest families in England, I had all the opportunities in the world. People considered me to be a bright, charming young man," Edward smirked, thinking back again, this time to all of those who referred to him as such. "I was a scholar, a musician… and a freak," he added, his smile slowly fading. "For an Englishman of noble birth I was led a miserable rest of my days at the freak show, after escaping the asylum my family had me committed to long before. That's another story though, not one to be told now. Anyway, one night my foul excuse of a twin drove me over the edge and I murdered all of the freaks there… I later hanged myself. I tried. I really did. But once it was clear, after my many attempts, that I could not kill it, I gave up. I'll spare you all the minor details of my failed misdoings," Edward's voice began growing quiet and much softer as he neared the end of his story.

Dandy sat still with not a single word as he let his brain soak up all of the facts that were just given to him. After thinking on it, Dandy stood up to come face to face with Edward again.

"You said that you killed all of the freaks all in the same day, right?" The bare-chested man asked, with a hint of curiosity gleaming in his eyes. "And then died right after?"

"I did, indeed. Now they are stuck to roam the unholy world with me for all eternity," Edward replied, before he realized what Dandy was trying to get across when asking that. "And yes, I am well aware that you performed the same act. I would have not been summoned if you did not," he added, clearing that up.

"Isn't that exquisite? The both of us causing the same scene," Dandy chuckled. "I do believe that it's the sign of an everlasting bond of two misunderstood souls."

Edward squinted his eyes and gave a look of pure disgust as Dandy inched closer, rambling on about the newly, so-called bond. Unlike Dandy, Edward never took pleasure form the people he killed. If it wasn't for his other face, Edward would have never brutally murdered anyone in the first place. Dandy was sadistic, Edward was not.

"Stop!" Edward yelled, putting a gray hand up in front of himself to prevent Dandy from moving any closer. "I believe we're done here. You asked for my story and you received it. I did not ask you to point out the common similarities we both share. Now, let us continue on," Edward said with a raised voice, turning around and beginning to walk on.

Dandy hastily grew impatient with the man in front of him. He immediately stomped over beside Edward and gave him a strong shove.

"Why are you not accepting me?" Dandy whined once again. "I'm trying to relate with you and make this work but you're just denying my offer. Don't you want to know what it's like to have a friend?" he wailed. "Because I sure would…" Dandy added with a sudden sad sentiment, lowering his voice with his head drooping down.

Edward recovered from the tough shove and stared over at the boy with his mouth agape. Dandy sniffed and went to wipe his nose with his unadorned arm. The now teary-eyed man looks up at Edward with glossy eyes and waited for his reaction.

"Here," Edward said, pulling out a handkerchief from inside of his coat and walking over to Dandy to hand it to him.

Dandy gently grabbed it and brought it up to his nose to wipe away the forming mess on his face. As he did so, he kept glancing at Edward, thinking about the judgment he believed was being put on him in this state.

"No shame in crying," Edward said calmly and cautiously reaching a hand out to Dandy's shoulder like Twisty had done a while back. "Now, for the last time, I am done telling you my story. It is time to go," he finished, extending his arm around to Dandy's other shoulder, guiding him to march forward.

Over time, the two made it deep down into the layers of Hell, the final resting place of the dead. As they continued walking on Dandy started to pick up on a slight sound of chatter. It grew louder with each step he and Edward took.

"I still can't exactly process this," a voice belonging to a man began. "Those freaks claimed us to be bad people for killing and messing with their own kind, but then they turn right around and do the same to us. If_ they_ kill someone it's apparently no big deal. They use the whole "defending themselves" excuse. But, oh, god forbid someone outside of the tent kills one of them. They're hypocrites, that's what they are," he finished with a roll of his eyes.

"Careful buddy, my son is one of those freaks you're criticizing," another man said with a slightly annoyed tone to his voice.

"Oh boo hoo, grow a pair Strongman, I could-" the man was suddenly interrupted by Edward who was clearing his throat to get their attention.

"I hate to break up this lovely argument but we have a new member and I'd like to welcome him into our, oh so, unhappy number," the dark man smirked, taking his hand away from Dandy's back.

The faces of the two men silenced their conversation and looked over at Dandy. Then, out of the dark of the night, the voice of a woman was heard.

"Well, look who it is. Funny seeing you here," the woman commented, walking out of the shadows and revealing herself. "Can't wait to hear _your_ story."

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**Cliffhanger! Ok, so Chapter 2. What do you think? Feedback is lovely, so comment away! **


	3. A Slight Sense of Happiness

**Wow, how long has it been? Months? Yeah, I apologize for letting this story go without an update for so long! I've been busy with school and work and all that real life stuff. I also had some trouble getting back into this, but it finally came to me and I got it down. So enjoy this quick little update. (And when I say quick, I mean quick.) I will try not to take as long with the next chapter. And maybe I'll get a little bit of action going as well. **

**Happy reading! **

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"You read people, right? Take a guess," Dandy said to the now known woman by the name of Maggie Esmerelda.

"Oh," she laughed. "You do know that's all bullshit right?"

Dandy gave a perplexed look.

"I'm not a real fortune teller. I can't read you or predict your future," she admitted to him with a roll of her eyes.

"But… but you told me I was destined for a bright future. You said I would go on to break millions of hearts…" Dandy sadly spoke.

"Yeah, well, I was making it up. I mean, could you really not figure that out? Look where you are. You're dead. You have no real future now," Maggie spat.

Dandy stood, frustrated and torn down even more. It seemed as though, even in the afterlife, he would never get what he wanted. Given the circumstances already, Hell was not looking too good for the spoiled man. It was a complete cesspool of death and Dandy Mott was an incompetent fool who hadn't had a clue to what was bound to happen next in the Shadow Zone.

Hell was nothing like Dandy had ever expected. There were no fiery pits of darkness or lava induced lakes that doers of evil would burn in. Hell was nothing compared to the image it had been given for all of these years. All Hell was was wide open space, outside nothingness that gnawed away at any happiness you had left inside. It was wide open with no end.

The Greek and Roman people were on the right track with their depiction of Hell in which they called Tartaros. That description of Hell was a pretty accurate representation to its given depiction in the living world. Take out the caves and there you have it. That was Hell. It was such an empty place. It was dreary and dark and full of decay. Some souls, like Edward's and his group, walked freely and let their departed souls wander. Others stayed still, lying motionless on the tarnished, impure ground, never to wake again. It was a choice the dead had to make. Dandy, being who he is chose not to rest. The others, Maggie, Dell and Stanley, who had revealed themselves just a bit ago, were the same way. Dell was much too stubborn to let go, Stanley had too big of an ego and Maggie couldn't stand the thought of never waking up again. The lone clown, however, had a completely different reason on choosing to roam. Twisty believed that by Edward's side he was important. The clown noted that though he was no longer living, he was still fulfilling some type of purpose. He volunteered to travel with Edward and his troupe to collect the damned souls of the ones still breathing. Edward accepted him and was grateful to have another devoted to him and his doing.

"Listen, I'm sorry. It's a long story so don't ask why I lied. Just know that it was nothing personal," Maggie told Dandy after watching his childish acts of exasperation play out.

Dandy gave the blonde a quick glance but said nothing.

"So what kid? How'd you go?" Dell asked, speaking up, although he could honestly care less. He was just curious.

"It was quite tragic actually…" Edward began, about to explain Dandy's death for him.

"Excuse you, I believe the fat man here was asking me, not you," Dandy immediately blurted out, shooting Edward a nasty look. "Don't you have more helpless victims out there to capture and hold prisoner in this disgusting place anyway?" he added while Dell sat in silence now with an offended look.

Edward was taken back. "I do think you're missing the whole ideology behind everything that I do. I do not just go out left and right to steal away the souls of living persons, I-," Edward confronted Dandy, getting interrupted in the process.

"See, I heard that is kind of what you do though. You circle your prey and attack at the moment you find necessary and most convenient," Stanley suddenly interjected after keeping quiet for a while, pointing a finger at Edward.

"No, that is not what I do! I am a slave to this creature. I did not chose this life. Now, drop this foolishness right now," the caped man raised his voice. "You have got it all wrong and would never be capable of hearing the real truth."

"Oh, ok. So it's just specifically Halloween right? Is that what I left out?" Stanley fired back, being a complete smart ass about it.

"Stanley, stop it!" Maggie got in front of the nicely dressed man and pushed him back.

The five argumentative beings stood around close by each other as Stanley and Edward got into a heated quarrel.

Twisty had been elsewhere while the verbal fight broke out, having strolled away from the scene once Dandy had arrived with the others. He now found himself walking back over to the circle of freaks. Seeing what was going on, the clown did not want the situation to escalate so he took a stand and marched over to Edward. He put a hand on his shoulder and then spun the raven haired man to face him. Edward was caught off guard by this abrupt action and stopped midway of shouting something to Stanley.

"Stop it Edward. These folks are still new. It will take time for them to understand," Twisty said, trying to break the fight, but not entirely sure what the arguing was for in the first place.

Edward sighed inwardly and exhaled out of his mouth, rolling his shoulders back. He realized how Stanley's words had affected him and how he responded. The dead man composed himself and shot Twisty a faint smile. He appreciated the sudden appearance of the clown, even if it didn't completely clear the air.

"Oh, so he does speak," Stanley noted, dropping the argument with Edward and averting his attention to Twisty.

Twisty focused his eyes onto Stanley's face but said nothing in return.

"Yes, he talks. Now back to the subject at hand, my long and horrific tragedy of death," Dandy exaggerated, waving his hands and stepping in the middle of everyone.

"Ooh, let me guess. Was it over the top with unnecessary theatrics?" Maggie chuckled sarcastically.

"Yes," Dandy looked her right in the eye.

"Oh my God, did they use that dusty, out of date tank on you?" She guessed, knowing that the freaks were bound to use is at some point. "You drowned in Houdini's escape tank, didn't you?" she reiterated, getting excited.

"Yes…" Dandy frowned.

"Holy shit, no way! I was totally just guessing… wow, I was wondering when they'd use that thing."

"They watched too…" Dandy threw in for dramatics.

"Why would they do that to you?" Maggie asked softly, although she was certain she already knew the answer.

Dandy shrugged, keeping a sad, puppy dog look plastered on his face.

"Oh no! Do not play that game Dandy!" Edward interfered, putting a finger up to Dandy and then turning to face Maggie. "He is not telling you what he did to get himself into that situation."

"I didn't-," Dandy tried to defend himself.

"No, no, no, he killed all of Fraulein Elsa Mars' freaks," Edward quickly told of Dandy's crime.

Maggie raised her eyebrows in shock, "Is that true? All of them?"

"Almost all of them," the long haired ghost responded.

"Look who's talking. A man who seems to have committed the same crime as me. Isn't that funny?" Dandy tilted his head and curled his lips at Edward.

"I would have never performed an act as cruel as that if it weren't for this monstrosity on the back of my head."

'You killed out of frustration and pain. You snapped. Well, so did I," the audacious man said. "We all have our excuses. You, a second head. Me, not getting what I wanted," he locked eyes with Edward and the other stared back with fury.

"Alright, you know what, let's just drop this whole thing. We've all done bad things and that's why we're all here," Stanley started after sitting back and listening to everything. He walked closer to Dandy and put a hand on his shoulder. "You're an egotistical diva, we get it," Stanley then walked over to Edward with the same gesture. "And you're just a screwed up monkey with an extra face. You know, I wouldn't be a ray of sunshine either if I was in your position but, hey, you're dead and there's really nothing you can do. So let's just calm down and soak up that reality of where we're all at right now," he finished, backing away with a nod.

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Later on Dandy and Edward found themselves face to face with each other once again. The others, though, weren't around this time.

"Everlasting bond. What a way to put it," Edward spoke in a low tone, referring to when Dandy first found out about their similarities.

"Well just because I was using your tragic downfall against you doesn't mean that I think differently. I do believe that we are capable of a certain partnership that not many others are equipped of sharing," Dandy replied, crossing his arms.

"I what ways, exactly, do you find use in creating a bond with me? I see no reason to and I fail to comprehend how you would."

Dandy smirked, "Death takes life, not relationships. And I plan on creating greatness with you."

Edward knew that Dandy was a complete lunatic, but couldn't help the warm feeling that traveled through his body after hearing those words being spoken to him. Being the freak he was, Edward Mordrake never received many invites from the friendship department. As a matter of fact, he spent so much time alone, drowning in his own sorrows, that he felt himself slowly drift into a state of emotionless nothing. His second face did nothing to cure that. It only made things worse. After taking his own life, Edward limited his feelings toward that souls of the living and the dead and let his demon face take over. Now that Dandy was here and willing to indulge in the being that was Edward, gave him a slight sense of happiness and a regaining of real emotion. Still, in some way it just didn't seem right that the person who was willing to get closest to him was Dandy Mott.

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**Not my very best, but I really just wanted to get this story updated. Hopefully it wasn't too bad for you guys. Next time I promise more action and more plot.**


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